


Silent Shore

by Nightmare Painter (daiyu_amaya)



Category: Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: F/M, Insanity, Non-Canon Relationship, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 19:08:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5837500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daiyu_amaya/pseuds/Nightmare%20Painter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A former psychologist teams up with one of Gotham’s villains, only batman doesn’t see it that way-it was more like Scarecrow was holding her hostage...maybe it was the other way around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I had this idea pop up out of no where-guess watching too much batman does that to a person lol. Our psychologist is a take on what a scarred professional might do instead of the route Harley took.

"Shit, damn it..." He took quick breaths and looked down again, when had it been common for police to shoot at him? Crimson gushed out of his side, cascading to his belt and trickling down his leg. If people didn't get so damned jumpy maybe this wouldn't have happened...Jonathan knew he needed medical attention, of course going to the hospital would only get him sent back to hell hole named Arkham and that was the last place he wanted to go. Jonathan didn't want to go back there, not with the blunder he'd made-if Ivy found him she'd kill him.

"Oh, shit hey come back!" A voice called out, he half turned expecting cops but, only a dark haired woman with wide worried eyes stared at him. "You're bleeding out pretty bad! Come on and let me patch you up!" She didn't seem scared in the least of him, didn't she know who he was?   
He wobbled and she rushed to his side as he collapsed. "Fuck, come on skinny-lets get you cleaned up." His world was getting all fuzzy and distorted...was this what it was like to die? Jonathan didn't want to die, he wanted to live-to escape that fate as long as he could.

He opened his eyes and flinched, where had the bright light come from? He turned his head and saw the woman washing her hands in a sink, her hands were coated in foamy red bubbles. He must have made a noise because she jumped and turned her head awkwardly to get a look at him. "Hey, your awake. How are you feeling?" Honestly people shouldn't ask that question when it was obvious. "Like shit." She chuckled; "Yeah I'd imagine so. At least your alive though, you could be where ever it is you believe you'll go when you die."

He felt his brows raise, "Do I look like a religious type of person to you?" She burst into laughter; "Fuck no, you're wearing a scarecrow costume, that tells me you don't believe in men so why would you believe in gods?" I didn't believe in men? "Whoa there miss psychoanalyst. I know people are real.” She nodded; “But you believe in the worst of men right?” He supposed that was right, men were flawed-so afraid of everything, easy to control with that same fear.  
  
"I'm Jonathan Crane by the way." As if she didn't already know, anyone who lived in Gotham would know who he was. They had to deal with me almost every other month, Arkham has some serious security issues that it needed to address. She flashed him a smile; "I'm Irina, Irina Rosenthal." Jonathan was familiar with her name, even though he hadn't put her face to it. "You're a psychologist." She shrugged as if it was no big deal.   
"Was. You were too."

He nodded, yeah going from someone who was suppose to help to someone who harmed wasn't exactly the best story from any stand point. "I became an author a while back-mostly horror novels, a few psychological thrillers." Well, she was certainly on the fast track. But, if he remembered correctly Rosenthal was at least in her early thirties, why would she give up psychology at such a young age?

"What happened to you to make you quit?" She frowned and turned the water off, her hands bright red from the heat rather then blood. "One of my patients almost killed me." And she pointed to her neck-A thin line crossed from one side to the other. Ah, they’d used some sort of wire or something on her-a make shift garrote. "I could see why you would want to get out of the business." She gave him a quick smile and fetched a towel.   
"I managed to pull the bullet out, it didn't seem like it hit anything major..."

She paused and gave Jonathan what he supposed was meant to be a smile but turned out to be more like a grimace. "But, I'm not that type of doctor so I wouldn't really know...but seeing as you're still kicking, I don't think you're bleeding internally." That was the good news at least. "Thanks, I should probably find my way out of here so the police don't go banging your door down."

Jonathan tried to sit up and a spasm of pain burned it's way through his side. "Uh, yeah that's not going to fly. Your wings are clipped right now." great, at least he was warm though, even though it was because of water. His pants were soaked-than again that didn't really matter now did it considering that they were also blood streaked. "You can stay here, I don't get visitors. Everyone thinks of me as the crazy lady next door."

That made no sense; "Other than you harboring a criminal I don't see crazy." Irina shrugged, "To each their own perspective." Pretty sure that wasn't how that saying went. "I'm assuming you would like out of my tub with minimal pain?" He nodded, yes and yes. "If you had anything dry too would be much appreciated." Irina shrugged; "I might have something, I'll check in a moment."

It was a slow process pulling him out of the tub, at least it was better than trying to climb out on his own, and her something turned out to be a kimono. Thankfully not some girly color, but a nice steel grey affair. "Where did you even get this?" She smiled; "An ex of mine left it behind with me, said that he didn't even want it when I bought it for him-said he was just being nice to get in between the sheets with me." Wow, yeah that was stupid.

"Sorry to ask." Irina waved it off and pulled a sheet pan out of the oven. The succulent scent of Chinese wafting through her kitchen, turns out we both had a taste for it even though most of our former coworkers wouldn't touch the stuff since it was a staple of school life, that and cup of noodle. Not to mention the whiskey, whiskey always made everything better. “You know, I actually found it kind of funny that I found you.”

He most certainly didn’t see how it was funny, sure walking down the sidewalk and suddenly you come across a hurt madman…No, still didn’t get it. “Oh? I don’t see the humor in it.” Irina seemed prone to smiling, not in the creepy way Joker did or even Harley for that matter. But, it was kind of secretive. Like, she knew something he didn't. "Well of course that wasn't funny, finding you bleeding to death-no what was funny was I had just been thinking about your fear toxin, it's pretty interesting stuff."

That was the last thing Jonatha thought he would hear out of a normal persons mouth. Though he supposed some would find it fascinating. It caused people to hallucinate and if exposed to enough die. But, did she like his toxin alone or did she find Jokers toxin to be equally fascinating? “Just mine or?” She grinned, “I have to admit that I find Poison Ivy pretty interesting too.” But not the Joker? “There are other villains that use toxins.”

She nodded; “And their not worth mentioning.” Hm, that was very strange-Most people thought about the Joker in one way or another, did that mean she didn’t care about him or what? “The Joker-” She practically hissed at me, but she was no Cat Woman. “Is a vile piece of scum. He’s not like the others, he manipulates people into doing what he wants them to do. Simple as that, he likes to watch things burn…some people just don’t need a reason to hurt others.”

She was really passionate about that. But, didn’t that put him in the same category? He made people frightened, though he suppose his need to study fear was her reason for not beliving Jonathan was like the Joker-Joker didn’t seem to need one like she pointed out. “I’m a criminal.” Irina nodded; “Yeah, but you're not him. If anything you're better than he is.” No one had ever said that to him before, they kind of lumped us all together most days. Jonathan wasn’t seen as a threat much, not even the bat cared anymore.

“I should just give up being a criminal-I’ve done things I thought I would never do, hurt countless people…” Irina reached out a hand and placed it over his. “If you want to talk about anything, feel free to do so with me, I won’t judge you ever.” He felt his mouth twitch. Of course if she was for real, than she was an angel of humanity. How could anyone understand much less forgive him for his crimes?


	2. Bats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol I totally put an author's name in the story, this author wrote Star Trek next generation books, the cold equations trilogy to be exact, they are really good books!
> 
> Also I changed from he/him to I/me ^_^

“He hasn’t been seen in at least a month, not a peep out of him-no one falling over dead due to his toxin or anything!” Gordon seemed really revved up about it, I didn’t blame him. We were all worried what Crane could be up to. “Someone said he’d been shot when your men were chasing him.” Gordon nodded; “Yeah, but we don’t know if he was actually hit or not…there was a lot of blood so I would say he had been.”

Maybe he was recovering somewhere then. “I’ll try to track him down, but I’m not sure how long that would take me.” Gordon nodded; “At least, someone would be looking for him, we’ve got other things on our plate at the moment.” Like cleaning up after The Joker. "Let's hope he doesn’t add more to it then." I took a few steps and then I was in the air, gliding to the bat-mobile.

It was worrying that Crane hadn't yet resurfaced, but maybe he wouldn't for a while due to a bullet wound. Assuming he was still alive, at this point anything was possible. I decided to end for the night, it was close to dawn as it was...But still where was Crane and what if anything was he doing? If it was anything, then it was probably nothing good, I supposed that in time I would find out what it was he was doing.

Crane's POV

"Hey, wakie wakie!" I cracked an eye open and smiled at Irina, she was half awake herself and wearing a giant nightshirt. "Morning already?" She nodded even though it was still dark outside and practically jumped into my lap, "News central here we come." She was addicted to the morning news, watched it every morning to stay in the loop. Not that it really helped all that much, they gave you things that you really didn't have to know, but they wanted the ratings like every other television station.

"In other news, The Joker was taken back to Arkham, here are some comments about his arrest." And it went to a shot of a crowd who looked really quite unruly, great give the masses the mike. "They really shouldn't do this-it fuels him." We both knew that, she didn't think Arkham was doing its job, especially after I told her some of the conditions that inmates were subjected to.

"Suppose they think it's smart bad mouthing him when he's locked up." A woman was ranting about how they should just put the Joker down, or something. "And they think killing is the solution, well okay maybe with him-he doesn't want to be helped." Most of the inmates at Arkham didn’t want to be helped, I was a perfect example of that…well not now, not since meeting Irina, she made me regret doing the things I did.

"Um, yeah that's not creepy at all dude." What was Irina? Shit, double shit. How had he found me? BatMan seemed shocked to see me and Irina paling around. "Crane." I didn't know what to say. "Well, this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I told you to turn yourself in." I chuckled. "Yeah, me neither. I suppose you're going to want answers BatMan." He was silent, but then again he normally was.

"Hey I know, bats would you escort my friend here to the police-but you know skip the beating?" As if he would do such a thing. "What the hell?" He muttered, I'd never heard the bat curse before-scream yes, hiss check, but curse? Nope not in a million years. "Me and Jonathan here were getting along just fine, he wasn't attempting to spray anyone with his toxin nor kill in any other manner-he was pretty chummy actually."

"Crane, will you come quietly?" I froze, he seemed quite ready for a fight-If I didn't give him one did that mean he wouldn't punch me in the face? "Yeah, but um, I need a change of clothes if you don't mind, Irina would you?" She smiled; "Yeah, I'll go." She left the room so I could get changed, Bat Man was a man so it didn't matter if he saw my boxers. It wasn't anything he didn't see every day himself though he wasn't nearly as skinny as I was.

"Alright, Irina!" She sauntered back in wearing jeans and a tee. "Just call me or write, whichever they let you do okay? I want to know if they treat you badly." Bat Man frowned, "You think that Arkham will-" She overrode him; "They treat people like crap. Just a few days with me and he told me what they were really like there, abuse by orderlies, doctors not quite treating patients as just drugging them." Bat Man didn't look all that happy about that news.

"And how would you know the difference between treatment and abuse?" She smirked; "I worked for the David Mack psychiatric hospital in San Francisco." That caught his attention; how often did you find a psychiatrist that didn't turn in a mad man? BatMan didn't seem like he knew how to respond to that. "Come on let's go." and he grabbed my arm, but it wasn't as hard as usual. Was he actually being dare I say 'nice' to me? "See you later Irina!" It scared me, I didn't want to go back even now, but she was right about me having to clear my name-I had to if I wanted to move on with my life assuming I lived through Arkham first.


	3. Fin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Final Chapter out of a strange story!

I smiled at Irina, but the Bat Man seemed pretty reluctant to leave us alone. "You know Arkham released him on a clear bill of health, and he really shouldn't have been, but you also know he won't do anything to hurt me. Not when I amuse him so much, and I am fascinated by his toxin, why kill someone who shares your interests?" Bat Man didn't seem at all reassured, and if I was him I wouldn't be too. "You don't know what their like, what he's like."

Irina frowned; "They have no chose but to be what they were? Is that what you're saying?" She seemed truly offended that Bat Man would ever say that about people like me. "They put him in Arkham and released him-he's not your problem anymore, he's not a problem period!" That was nice, I knew Irina was a good person. That in the long run if I could get my act together she would be the best of friends to me, she wasn't like my old friends who couldn't help themselves let alone me.

"If he hurts you-" She had murder on her face; "Then I won't be coming to you telling you how wrong I was, I'm not. I won't ever be wrong about befriending Jonathan." I felt a chill run its course through my veins, what If I did hurt her? What if I became the monster again? "Crane?" Bat Man seemed a little wary of me, I didn't do anything yet, oh gods yet... "Whoa, hold the phone! Deep breaths Jonathan!" Irina coached me through a few breathing exercises before I managed to calm down.

"Jesus, you alright?" I nodded, I didn't want to hurt her but I had such capacity to do harm...My fear toxin alone could kill her. Hell that stuff could probably kill me in the long run, I hadn't ever really thought about it that way before. "He's right though Irina, this is a bad idea, What if I relapse? I could hurt you!" She waved that off. "Now, if you relapse I'll just slap some sense into you okay?"

I shook my head; "The fear toxin-" "Won't do a damn thing to me. I'm immune." What? Immune? How was that possible, everyone was affected by it...Ah, wait not everyone was affected by the same amount-it took a stronger formula to get the Joker... “How is that even possible?” Bat Man said Irina chuckled. “I’ve always been pretty strong, toxins and poisons don’t affect me the same way it does other people.”

We didn’t believe her, how could she be? The only other person I knew who wasn’t affected by my toxin was Poison Ivy and no toxin affected her, but that might have been because plants don’t feel fear. “I doubt you’ll survive his toxin.” She chuckled. “You have the antidote on you right now?” He hesitated but nodded a moment later. “Then lets put it to the test hm?” I didn’t like that idea at all! “No! What if you're wrong? What if his antidote doesn’t work?”

She shrugged; “I’m sure you could produce an antitoxin.” Not under that kind of pressure! “You would really leave him alone?” Irina glared at BatMan; “I won’t be dying jackass. I’m immune, I know it for a fact. I’ve been exposed to fear toxin before.” What? When had that happened? “You?” She nodded; “Yeah about a year ago. Everyone else freaked, at first, I thought it was because they saw him, but later they said that everyone in that crowd had been sprayed by the toxin.”

But, she didn’t say she freaked out…maybe she was immune. Maybe something about her gave her immunity to it, wouldn’t that be something? I might not have to be as afraid of hurting her as I previously thought. Did that mean that it didn’t matter how many times I relapsed if she was the only person near me? And if she didn’t get hurt by my toxin…did that mean I would eventually stop turning into…into the scarecrow?

“So you do know what your doing.” Bat Man sounded impressed, Irina smirked at him, “I wouldn’t have been frightened of him either way, but it was nice to know that the only way he could hurt me was physically.” That and I had a bullet lodged in my side, she’d helped me even though I could have killed her one way or another. Irina continued to surprise me then, that wouldn’t be a bad life now would it?

A friend who knows I’m better, who no matter what would stick by my side… That was far better than my friendship with Eddie at least. He had his own set of problems to deal with, which made both of us getting better impossible, but Irina didn’t have problems to burden me with and since her day job was to write, we could spend quite a bit of time together. “Now, would you kindly not threaten Jonathan?”

I could have swore that Bat Man rolled his eyes at Irina, but that couldn’t be right-why would The Bat Man do something so childish? “Sure, just make sure he doesn’t get out of your sight anytime soon.” She nodded and smiled at me; “Ready for a couple nights of pizza and bad late night television?” I chuckled, “I can’t think of anything better to do.” We both looked to the Bat, but he was gone.

“Come on, I’ll order-could you get the soda?” I smiled and headed to the kitchen, the start of my new life. Hopefully, this would be one of many nights we spent together and I would never have to see bars again. I opened the fridge and just about laughed my ass off, Irina had stocked the fridge with at least four different cases of soda, she definitely planned on us doing this for a long time to come. I grabbed a grape soda and a cola and headed back into the living room and bad TV night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Silent Shore was just a strange story idea that popped into my head a few years back, kicked me in the pants really. I did edit a few things, but I mostly left it as was. I figured I should share some of my earlier work on here, partly because this is something I've shared before and partly because everything else I have on here practically is new unshared.


End file.
